The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announced late in April that will have their first elk hunting season this fall. Elk were once plentiful in Missouri as well as much of the eastern U.S. but were hunted to extinction due to unregulated hunting in the 1800’s. Missouri’s first elk hunt will allow for five elk to be harvested.

  The MDC re-introduced elk to a remote area of the Ozark Mountains in southeast Missouri beginning in 2011 with more added in 2012 and 2013. Most of the 100 elk introduced were cows with calves and immature bulls. Their numbers have now grown to around 200 allowing the hunt to happen.

 The re-introduced elk were captured in Kentucky. They went through a complete medical examination and held in quarantine before being released. The same procedures were followed the next two years with additional captured elk.

  “Our plan was to offer a limited season for hunting elk in Missouri once the herd reached a minimum of 200 animals with an annual herd growth rate of at least 10 percent, and a herd ratio of at least one bull for every four cow elk,” MDC Elk and Deer Biologist Aaron Hildreth said. “Those goals have been met.”

  All five permits will be for bull elk and will valid for both an archery season that runs October 17 – 25 and a firearm portion that will run December 12 – 20. All of the permits will be assigned through a random drawing with one of the permits being available only to landowners. Those lucky enough to get in on this first hunt will then be put on a ten year “sit out” period meaning they won’t be able to apply again for an elk hunt for ten years thus giving other hunters the chance to harvest an elk.

  The MDC wants to eventually grow the herd to around 500 elk and will use hunting to manage the size of the herd and their location.

  You can apply for the random elk-permit drawing May 1 - 31 online at mdc.mo.gov/buypermits, through MDC's free MO Hunting app, through a permit vendor, or by calling 1-800-392-4115.

 For more information on elk hunting in Missouri, visit huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/elk or visit https://mdc.mo.gov/ for all the outdoor info you need for Missouri.

  “What did you get Falconer?” Robert asked as he stepped off his 4-wheeler like a cat leaving its perch. He had seen me in camp and was looking off toward the skinning tree where my buck hung.

  “I got a buck,” I said. “It’s not the biggest buck but he took a lot of killin’”

 Robert laughed hard. “I heard all that shootin’ and I said to myself only Falconer could reload his muzzleloader that fast!” He laughed some more. “Then I heard you go to the revolver and I KNEW it was you!”

 I was chuckling some too. It was a heck of a story.

 He walked up to the buck and held his head up, counting the holes and shaking his head. “How many times did you shoot it?” he asked.

 “Four and 1/2,” I replied getting the laugh I knew I was gonna get.

  “I heard the 1/2,” he said. “It was the next to last shot!” He looked me over speculatively, counting in his head. “You shot more than that,” he said.

 “I missed once,” I admitted.

 I had slept in on purpose that morning. The deer had not been moving in the mornings early so I had decided to go to my stand around 9am and hunt until after noon, expecting the deer to move later in the day. As I drove my 4 wheeler toward my stand, I was at the foot of Shiloh (one of the mountains on my property) and I saw a nice buck standing a little over 100 yards away with his head in some trees. His rack looked huge.

 I stepped off the 4 wheeler and that buck ran to my left. Now if he had waited just one more minute for me to look over his antlers I would not have shot, but since he didn’t adrenaline took over and I pulled those cross-hairs in front of him and touched the smoke pole off. That buck tumbled rear end over tea kettle and I ran up the incline to my left, working to load my gun as I did. I stopped and saw the buck was standing, walking weakly and I knew I had hit him too far back as he stumbled for the creek. Just as he got to it I rose up and fired and he tumbled into the creek just as I shot.

  Damn!!

 “I am over here!!” Charles Haley, a buddy of mine bow hunting on the 40 acres across the county road. He yelled from his stand 40 yards into the woods. He said he could see the black smoke roll each time I shot and had no idea who was shooting or where they were shooting at!!

 “I know where in the hell you’re at Charlie!” I yelled, the excitement and adrenaline probably making me sound more upset than I was.

 I loaded my gun again and I saw the buck across the creek as I ran to the road and jumped off the embankment! Okay, that hurt!! I am not 15 anymore!! The buck was lying in the road and I shot him as he leap-frogged off the road.

 He was out of sight and I drew the revolver as I walked down the road, the sound of my boots rhythmic and solid on the hard packed dirt. I thumb-cocked that black powder Old Army revolver as I got close and as soon as the buck seen me he whirled to take off and I shot him in the back of the neck.

 Down he went and as he tried to get back up I fired again, the black powder only partly igniting as I seen the round ball strike and then roll down the neck of the buck. As he struggled to stand I fired again and he collapsed, his body relaxing as I stood over him, my heart slamming in my chest and my body suddenly shaking from the effects of the adrenaline. It felt like the encounter had been going on for hours.

 I saw two of my friends on four wheelers coming by, unaware of all the shooting that had been going on because of the noise of their 4 wheelers. Up the road Charlie was emerging cautiously from the woods. A half mile away Robert was laughing his butt off in his deer stand, shaking his head at all the shooting.

 As Melissa pulled up with her husband Michael behind her, she said, “What are you doing standing in the ditch?!”

  I said, “Girl, I been in the middle of a whole lot of deer killing!”

 Robert was touching the antlers on the buck as I told the story and he said, “Those antlers may not look it, but that is a heck of a trophy there Dave.”

 “It was one of the most exciting hunts I have ever been on,” I said. “I screwed up when I didn’t kill him with the first shot.”

  “You got him,” Robert said. “That’s what matters. You got a heck of a story to go with it.”

 “He comes with a great story,” I agreed.

 He said, “I knew no one except you could reload that fast. You have no idea how fast that second shot was after the first do you?”

  “I was too busy running and loading to really know,” I admitted.

 “It was fast,” he said.

 The buck was a good 2 and 1/2 year old deer. One that I normally would have let walk but in the excitement he ran, and when he did I do what a lot of deer hunters do, I shot him.

 Robert and I both remember when you shot the first legal buck you saw in Oklahoma because it could be the only opportunity you would get all season. That was just how it was for years and that reaction when the deer runs stems from that background I think.

 Robert and David with the buck

 Hunting together with your friends and family create some great memories. Great memories are the real trophies of the hunt.

  Nature offers serenity. In my eyes, it is the only thing that really does. What you see is what you get! No options.

  We, as humans have so many options. Does the car need air conditioning, navigation, speed control? Does the house need hardwood floors, carpeting, shudders, or brick? Do we need make-up, a hair transplant, short skirt, long skirt, suit, tie, or a turtleneck?

  Which computer? What cell phone?

 Think about it: nature does offer serenity. Be smart: take time to look, learn, appreciate and feel serene with nature. Our lives would be simpler, I believe, if we took time to simplify our lives and don’t spend so much time on options. Spend some time with nature and feel at peace with yourself.

  You will like it! I know!